Horace Walpole was one day complaining that the same indecision, irresolution, and want of system, existed in the reign of George III., as in that of Queen Anne; and remarked, of the continuance of the Duke of Newcastle as first lord of the treasury after the accession of George III., There is nothing new under the sun.Nor under the grandson, added Selwyn, George III. being the grandson of George II.

When Foxs friends were discussing a subscription they had raised for him, and were wondering how he would take it, Take it? interrupted Selwyn, why, quarterly, of course! Lord Brougham, speaking of the salary attached to a new judgeship, said it was all moonshine. Maybe, replied Lord Lyndhurst; but Ive a notion that, moonshine or not, you would like to see the first quarter of it.

George III. alluded to Selwyn one day as that rascal George; who asked, What does that mean? and added, Oh, I forgot: it is one of the hereditary titles of the Georges.

The Duke of Cumberland asked him how a horse he had purchased answered. I really dont know, coolly replied Selwyn to the royal duke: I have never asked him a question.

When a namesake of Fox was hanged at Tyburn, the orator asked Selwyn, who was generally present on such occasions, if he attended the execution: No, answered the latter, I make it a point never to attend rehearsals. During the trials of Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino, rebels of 1745, Selwyn saw Mrs. Bethell, who had a hatchet face, looking intently at them; and, alluding to the custom of turning the edge of the axe towards prisoners while sentence is being pronounced, said, What a shame it is to turn her face to the prisoners before they are condemned!

He was reproached for witnessing the execution of Lord Lovat, who lost his head after the Jacobite rebellion; and defended himself by saying, I am going to make amends by seeing it sewn on again at the undertakers. It was in reference to this passion of Selwyns, which once caused him in Paris to be taken for an executioner on a vacation, that Lord Holland said on his death-bed, If Mr. Selwyn calls, let him in: if I am alive I shall be very glad to see him, and if I am dead he will be very glad to see me.

When Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, who was thought to draw heavily on the credulity of his hearers, was asked at a dinner-party what musical instruments were used in that country, he replied after a moments hesitation, I think I saw one lyre there.Yes, remarked Selwyn, and there is one less since he left the country.